How the 'iron river' fed El Mencho's stockpile of weapons from the US
How the 'iron river' fed El Mencho's stockpile of weapons from the US
Lauren Villagran, USA TODAYTue, February 24, 2026 at 2:08 AM UTC
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After the Mexican military killed drug cartel kingpin Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, widely known as El Mencho, officials detailed the weapons recovered in the firefights. The stockpile included a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 10 long arms, handguns, and grenades, officials said.
Mexico Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said that, as with other Mexican crime scenes, about 80% of the recovered weapons were bought in the United States and smuggled across the border. The details were shared in a Feb. 23 news conference, a day after the killing of El Mencho.
Gun ownership in Mexico is tightly restricted. There is only one military-run gun store in the country, in Mexico City, where weapons sales are strictly regulated. But easy access to guns in the United States has created an "iron river" of firearms flooding Mexico's black market.
1 / 0Photos show Mexico unrest after cartel leader 'El Mencho' killed
After Mexican officials announced a powerful Mexican cartel leader was killed during a military operation on Sunday, several regions of the country are grappling with ongoing security risks and unrest.Police officers secure the area where vehicles were set on fire by organized crime members to block a road following a military operation in which a government source said Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as "El Mencho," was killed, in Zapopan, Mexico, Feb. 22, 2026.
"Our gun laws and gun industry practices fuel an iron river of firearms trafficking that supplies Mexican drug cartels and other criminal elements in the region," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin from Illinois said in a news release in 2025, announcing a bill he hoped would rein in the gun smuggling.
US-made guns at Mexican crime scenes
Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives roughly back up Mexico's figures, that the vast majority of weapons in Mexico come from the United States. Countries around the world ask the ATF to trace weapons found at their crime scenes. The ATF said 74% of the guns used in a crime were linked to a U.S. purchaser from 2017 to 2021.
The details behind gun trace data are kept out of public view by a congressional rule known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," passed in 2003 to shield gun shops from scrutiny. Each year, the ATF provides a simple count of the guns recovered in Mexico that had been bought in the United States.
But a massive leak of Mexican military intelligence in 2024 revealed trace data on U.S.-sold firearms that showed where and how they were purchased.
Mexican officials are particularly concerned about Arizona and Texas big-box stores near the border, such as Academy Sports + Outdoors and Cabela's, due to how often they sell multiple rifles in a single transaction. Academy, for example, sold 727 of the guns recovered in Mexico from 2020 to 2022, and Cabela's sold 215 over the same period, according to court records.
A sign warns travelers about Mexican gun laws they approach the Mexican border on Jan. 24, 2019 in Tecate, California.Ant traffic and the flow of weapons south
It's illegal to smuggle lawfully purchased firearms out of the United States.
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In one recent prosecution, the Department of Justice charged a father-son duo with attempting to drive more than 300 rifles and pistols, plus ammunition and magazines, over the Mexican border. The guns were plastic-wrapped and stashed behind a false wall in a utility trailer.
"Disrupting the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico is a key part of our whole-of-government approach to dismantling the cartels," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a news release at the time.
Earlier in February, the ATF announced it had seized 4,359 firearms and 648,975 rounds of ammunition bound for Mexico since January 2025, part of the Trump administration's effort to dismantle the networks that arm violent criminals.
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The southbound flow of weapons and cash from the United States to Mexico has historically been hard to combat, in part because smugglers move in what the Mexican government has called tráfico de hormigas, like ants over the border, trafficking small quantities at a time.
Mexico's National Guard randomly searches vehicles at ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection occasionally conducts southbound vehicle checks before they cross into Mexico.
Mexico has long blamed U.S. firearms for thousands of deaths in the country each year. The Mexican government in 2021 sued U.S. gunmakers, claiming they were "aiding and abetting" the trafficking of firearms south of the border.
In 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the Mexican government in its attempt to hold U.S. gunmakers liable for violence and atrocities committed by Mexican drug cartels.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: El Mencho had a stockpile of weapons smuggled from the US. Here's how.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
